Steady hands providing a steady career for Osaze
Osaze Aigbe is looking forward to starting the second year of his dental technology course at Matthew Boulton College as this involves doing some work experience in a private laboratory.
He explained: “Everyone’s encouraged to gain as much experience as possible as this benefits your studies, supports university applications and improves your CV.”
“Being in college is really enjoyable,” Osaze continued. “On some days, I spend between three and five hours in a lab and on others I’m doing theory work in the classroom on things like anatomy and studying the chemical compounds of materials.
“It’s a great environment to learn in. The laboratories here are much bigger than the ones at my old school and there’s a lot more one to one support available with the teachers. This is good if you need extra help with anything.”
Osaze’s interest in dental technology began four years ago in his school in Italy where he was given the option to study the subject as a vocational qualification.
“I took to my dental technology course straight away,” he recalled. “I found the idea of making something so small and intricate really fascinating and picked it up really quickly. Then when it came to choosing a career path to follow, I saw that the dental industry paid well and as I was already doing well the subject, it made sense to study it full-time.”
Osaze was three years into a five-year study programme when his family moved from Padua in Italy to Walsall. This meant that when he began his BTEC Level 3 Dental Technology qualification, some of his course was already familiar to him while other parts provided new challenges.
The Level 3 Dental Technology diploma is a coursework based qualification consisting of practical projects, presentations, reports and a portfolio. Course units include dental anatomy, oral biology and disease, dental public health and preventative dentistry and orthodontic therapy regimes.
“Going forward, I see myself at university doing a clinical dental technology degree,” said Osaze. “I’d then like to follow this up by spending time in a laboratory before setting up my own practice.
“There seems to be an even bigger awareness of the treatments and services dental technicians can offer to help people improve their oral health through orthodontic treatments. On top of that, legislation from organisations like the General Dental Council and the Dental Laboratories Association help to advise and reassure people about the treatments they go for. This means there are more career choices for those working in the industry and a lot of ways to make professional progress.”
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